Extreme Couponing 101 Part 4 - Organizing Your Coupons

There are many ways to organize coupons, but the truly important thing is to have them organized. Planning out shopping trips is a much quicker process when you know exactly where your coupons are and can easily find the ones you want. There’s no right or wrong way to organize really. But to me organizing should take as little of time as possible and since we are able to bring to you each week a database of printable coupons, insert coupons alongside the matchups on where they are; you should be able to just 5 minute file! That is my absolute preferred method alongside the help of the Couponizer.

1) 5 Min. File:

So what is the 5 minute file method? Well, you basically get in your newspaper inserts (Redplum, Smartsource, PG and General Mills) and simply write the date with a marker/sharpie on the front. This date refers to the Sunday publishing date. If you get caught up and forget, you can always check the spine of the inserts for the actual Sunday date. For me, it is just too hard to see especially once you start cutting and so forth, so just using my Sharpie works great!

So, I keep all of my inserts intact until I am ready to use the coupon. This is perfect for those of you who follow the drugstore and grocery match ups which list coupons from specific inserts; keeping the coupons unclipped makes it easier to find a coupon listed in a match up.
Then you file them away according to date and some file theirs by type as well. Maybe one hanging folder for Redplum, one for Smartsource, etc... Then you are done. There are some inexpensive crates out there and during back to school time, they are the cheapest of the year! Some use a 3 ring binder still for this in case they ever want to lug it around and just place the full inserts in page protectors. Now use the power of the site to locate the coupons for you and clip when you are planning your grocery trips instead of wasting hours upon hours, bindering (clipping, sorting, filing, purging expired ones). That is just too much effort. There is a downside to this method and it is that you do not have all of your coupons with you at the stores to score on hidden deals or clearanced items. However, that amount is a great impact for me to justify spending all that time. I am an "extreme couponer" so I practice multiple coupons, remember. That is 5 Smartsource and 5 Redplum each week and some weeks throw in the PG - that is a lot of work to sort and organize all of those.

Now, you may ask, what do I do with the peelies, tearpads, sample ones, ones I weren't able to use at the store due to lack of inventory? Well, I use the couponizer. It is like a mini-mini binder, but it keeps my extras organized and has loads of other fun related pockets to organize my shopping trip too! More about this nifty tool in a minute.

What about printables?  If you don't print a lot, then you can just clip and place them in your Couponizer. But if you have a lot - I print and file them in a little inbox office tray or you could just make another hanging file along with your inserts. When a matchup calls for a printable I see if I had printed it recently.

2) The Couponizer: This is a fantastic organizer especially for the beginning couponer. The Couponizer is a complete set of tools designed to make saving money easy. It is made up of 18 category pockets for grocery coupons and other coupon and discount category pockets. The Couponizer includes a section for store loyalty cards, a shopping list, a CoupTracker (to keep track of your fabulous coupon savings!), and a pair of scissors.

3) Three-Ring Binder: 

You can also keep clipped coupons (such as online coupons) in your binder by using trading/baseball card sheets.

To create your own coupon binder, you’ll need to organize the coupon inserts by date. You can find the date in very small print along the spine of the insert cover. I like to write the date across the front of the insert for easy reference later.
You can also use the 3 ring binder for your clipped coupons. You can quickly make your own binder by using a 3 ring binder I suggest 3inch rings, baseball card holders, and insertable tab dividers. Label your dividers by product category or store i.e. Baby, Baking, Frozen, Walgreens, CVS, etc. and you have your own coupon binder.

4) Accordion Folder:
A large accordion folder is a good choice for those who clip all of their coupons in advance. You can use the various pockets to divide coupons up by category and keep them sorted by expiration date.
A small accordion folder is nice to use to actually bring into the store. It can also double as a great place to store ExtraCare Bucks and Register Rewards earned from CVS and Walgreens, as well as receipts.

***Look for accordion folders in the dollar section at Target toward the end of the summer.
I would grab at least one for each of your CVS loyatly cards - more on why later under CVS!

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